The Hidden Family
by Aly Uzumaki
Summary: In modern day, a vampire being hunted hides away with his family in a forgotten mansion. Join Damion and his family as they enjoy their last four years of safety. Damion must tell his son soon about his near approaching fate and is faced with the possible need to turn his wife into a similar monster. Warning: possible violence, spanking, swearing, stated and implied sexual themes.
1. Prologue

-prologue!-

Love is described in many ways and takes many forms. Some define love as sexual attraction between a man and woman with love being nothing more than a simple evolved trait. Others define it as seeking a long-term partnership with someone because the two people enjoy each others company. There are thousands of different ways to describe the passionate explosion between two people called love, but all definitions have their limits on what isn't love and what isn't natural. Can love exist between different species, or is it just a sexual lust from seeing something remotely close to your own people? Can love between a predator and prey form, or does the predator simply use his prey for their own needs and gives the prey only enough attention to make them stay.

Society has recently resurfaced a more sexualized vampires, with a lust for humans, demons, other vampires, and pretty much anything that could look human. There are stories in which vampires are depicted as soulless monsters, relentlessly feeding on human flesh. In others, they are tormented souls, forever held captive by their thirst. Is it really fair to put them in such boxes though? They can cry tears of blood, have wants and needs, and have their own sexual tastes. Does their unbeatable heart still carry human longings for love? Could it be that we as a people naturally want to label groups and damn or praise them as wholes? We humanize our technology and will shout at it when it doesn't work. It seems strange that we dehumanize things that are so close to being human. Vampires, ghosts, werewolves, aliens, and all supernatural beings have a spiritual heart that aches, yearns, and hates just as ours and we must stop trying to label them good and bad because we are very much the same with the greater good and the terrible evil that resides in all men's hearts.

A hundred and ten years ago, there was a young vampire of less than a hundred years turned, grew tired of a life in a coven filled with true monsters. They had a special love for torture and sadistically playing with their food before sucking the victim dry. The vampire stabbed his sire with a stake during a steamy sex session one night and went on to kill sixteen of the twenty-five member coven. The ones that were left were strong and swore vengeance on their former brother. He finally lost the group after their thirst grew too strong for them to ignore.

The vampire sought the help of a magical fortune-teller to defend himself against the other vampires. She listened closely to his story and felt sympathetic to the poor boy. His name was Damion. He had been turned when he was sixteen years old and for the first ten years living with the coven, survived the role of sex toy, often left alone for days at a time chained to the wall. When his will was thought to have been broken, his sire released him for his imprisonment and encouraged violence in the young man. Damion acted for as long as he could until he snapped one day after witnessing his sire spend several days raping and torturing a girl who looked to be fifteen.

The fortune-teller pulled a large, violet-blue potion from her cabinet and set it on the table. She gingerly stroked it with her wrinkled fingers that were covered in dozens of dazzling rings, before speaking with a raspy, but powerful voice, "This, this is what you seek. It is my finest potion for vampires. Every drop you drink will give you one week of sunlight and will hide your sent. It will hide you for thirty three years. Be warned, this potion was made with a flower that no longer blooms, so once this potion is gone, I cannot help you anymore and you will no longer be able to run from them any more. In your future, I see love and it will bring more happiness than you could dream...if you let it. You have become attached to your coven's sadistic and cruel ways whether you accept that or not. A dark seed has been planted in your heart. If you give in to your drive to control, you will lose all that you love."

"What is the price of the potion?" He asked hastily, ignoring her warnings.

The elderly woman smiled and Damion couldn't help but cringe as he saw the maggots crawl through her teeth. She cackled and picked up the potion to lock it away. "More than you could afford."

Damion bolted up, "I will pay any price and do anything you wish of me, please tell me how I could pay you! They will finish their feeding soon and dawn approaches!"

The woman waved her hand towards him to sit, "Be calm, you silly boy, I'm getting to a way," He sat with a deep sigh of relief, "I will place a spell that will scatter your smell across the entire planet for a hundred and fifty years. The spell cannot be cast twice. I will also give you the potion. In exchange, you will serve me for one hundred years without question and when your firstborn has his thirteenth birthday, you will give him to me for five years."

"I will sire no one, why would I curse someone else with this hell?"

"You will sire vampires, but that is much further in the future. You will have children of vampiric and human blood. They will be of a rare few to survive through infancy with the potential to create a new breed. Your possible future suggests between four and eight children. Are you willing to sign your child's life away for five years along with a hundred of your own?"

"Yes, but I will _never_ lay with a human, I will bare no children, nor will I sire any vampire brats."

The woman held out her hand while the sun started to rise, "A deal then?"

"Yes, a deal." Damion shook her hand and the deed was done. He stayed with her for the full amount of time serving her without complaint or rest. Once he left, he settled in a small southern town and tried to find work, but no one would hire him, so he went to the north and found that he needed proof of education. He enrolled in high school and after six years, Damion accidentally fell in love with a sweet girl named Stephany. When she was eighteen, Damion finally had to confess to his condition after staying with her for too long and his hunger growing. He got up to leave disgusted with himself and heart- broken, unsure if he could find someone to nibble on quick enough before finding an animal to drain. Stephany grabbed his hands firmly and his body hissed in longing as he tried to resist her, but then she grabbed his head and gently led it to her neck.

"Drink from me." Damion unable to resist sucked her furiously and had to force himself to stop after tasting the most delicious blood in existence. He licked his fangs as blood dripped from his teeth and he was nearly to tears with self-loathing, but Stephany grabbed his face and kissed him deeply. They pledged their love to each other and from that day on they were officially a couple. They got married two and a half years later and Stephany had her first child, plus one, ten months later. (Presently they have four children; Demetri Ulysses and Lucinda Marilee, who recently turned nine, five-year old Dominique Hendrix, and two-year old Cornelia Audrey)

During Stephany's first pregnancy, it became obvious that Damion and Stephany's children would never fit into normal society. The children fed off their mother's blood. The pregnancy lasted ten months with Stephany bedridden for the last four months, barely able to move. Damion would have to take her once a week to an unsanitary hospital that laid on the border between the underworld and earth.

Going to and from the underworld was a right held only for supernatural beings. Having even one drop of supernatural DNA would allow for access, but Stephany was completely human and couldn't go to the nice hospital just a few yards away. The hospital that they were forced to go to was decaying. There were bloodstained floors, holes in the roof, broken windows, and walls thin enough to hear screaming from six rooms away. The doctors were rather lazy and ill-informed in the medical arts. While the nurses were kind, most were bewitched zombies with green skin and missing limbs.

Their doctor, Gregorie Janas, advised them to abort the children, because most hybrids were born in pain and would shortly die afterwords, twin hybrids surviving were even rarer, and the twins would take so much blood from the mother that the babies would kill her in the first six months. Stephany refused to kill her children and Damion supported her decision, but he was worried for his young wife.

The hospital would supply her with potions and blood supplements, but the medicine could only give them in small doses to prevent abuse. After, another two months of traveling back and forth from their home. Stephany found herself too fatigued to return home and begged to have them move closer to the hospital. Damion didn't like the thought of being near the underworld because of all the dangerous creatures that would come to and fro from the gate. He also knew that his coven would be coming through the area often, but he knew that Stephany wouldn't be able to handle traveling for the last few months.

Damion tried to appeal to the hospital's director to get him to give them larger doses of medicine, so they wouldn't have to travel every week, but the director could not be swayed. Then, he tried to get Dr. Janas to go against his boss and write a larger prescription, but the doctor refused him just as firmly. With no other choice, Damion agreed to move.

Stephany stayed at a hotel for a week, while Damion searched for a suitable home, refusing to let them live in the disgusting, small houses that were for sale near the gate of the underworld. He got lucky and found a magnificent house occupied by a small family of spirits. The spirits were looking to relocate to the underworld, but had no underworld credits, only worthless human money. Damion offered them two thousand credits for their current house. The money he gave them would be enough for them to buy a grand house without debt. They bartered for a bit and the ghosted agreed to leave the large house fully furnished for three thousand credits.

It was a lot of money and left Damion with only twenty-five credits left. He'd hoped that he could give his children store-bought blood, but it was clear now that they would have to feed off of him. Vampire's blood is toxic with only three exceptions. One, was with vampires had been turned in less than fifty years. They were able to feed off other vampires, but mainly only ate from their sire, or left over blood from the coven's victims. The second was sire's blood. No matter how old a vampire was, they would always have the ability to drink from their sire. The final exception was half-vampires that could feed off of other vampires.

The money was well worth it though. Honestly, the house was more like mansion. It had six regularly sized bedrooms plus a master suite, but only three bathrooms. Of coarse, three bathrooms would work fine for them at the moment. It was an old Victorian era house with boarded windows and a few dents, but it was sturdy. There were lots of old deco left behind that Stephany greatly appreciated.

Damion cleaned the house himself, so Stephany would have a nice place to give birth. He hired a professional doctor to make a house call on the night of the birth and help with delivery. It took nine hours to deliver the twins, but both parents were ecstatic to see their children alive and healthy with no deformities. Nine years later is when the real story began though.

An: thanks for reading le prologue!


	2. The Hunt

July 20th, 2012 had just started. Damion Whitlocke was reading in his studying waiting a few minutes before going into his eldest son's room. He liked to give his child a chance to wake up on his own, but when the old clock hit twelve-thirty, Damion had waited long enough. During the day, the children would spend most of their time with their mother eating human food and playing in the sun. Before seven, all the little half-vampires would be sleeping and would wake up sometime between ten and two in the morning, needing to feed. Once two in the morning came around, Damion would wake his children and give them private education. The children would only be up for four or five hours before returning to bed for a long nap.

Demetri was only a few years away from adolescence and would soon need to go out and hunt. Damion began to bring home a bag of blood after hunting for his son to drink. The taste of human blood didn't sit well with Demetri and he whined every time he was forced to drink it. He thought it was unfair that he was the only one being weaned, especially when his sister was born a few moments before him. In his mind, Lucinda should have been weaned fired, or at least be weaning with him.

Damion did have his reasons for weaning his younger child first. Demetri would be harder to wean, considering his stubbornness, and Damion thought it would be smarter to start with the challenging child. Lucinda was more compliant, but Damion didn't want to deal with two sulky children at once. The final reason, he'd chosen to wean Demetri first, was pure random genetics. Demetri had inherited the strong physique of his father and grandfather, while Lucinda was short and weak like her mother.

After peeking into the master bedroom to make sure his wife was sleeping well and that his two youngest had no thirst, Damion crept down the hall to his son's room and cracked open the creaking door slowly. He wasn't surprised to see his son asleep, but he was angry to see the white coloring of his son's face. When his children were well fed, they had a rosy human complexion, but if they ignored their thirst for more than an hour or two without the aid of human food, their skin would turn pale white with undeath. Demetri would have woken up if he was that thirsty, he'd forced himself back to sleep in defiance. Damion understood that his son wasn't happy about going hunting, but he was pissed that he would starve himself just to stall.

With no other choice, Damion scratched a small cut onto his shoulder with his long fingernails and gave his son the first taste of his blood in over a month. Demetri wasn't even awake until ten suckles in. Damion glared as his son fed, but kept his temper in check and watched his son's skin color intently, waiting until he'd have enough energy to go hunting. After a few moments, a hint of color sparked on Demetri's cheek and Damion gave him a firm swat to get him to stop. Demetri whined and kept sucking until three more sharp slaps hit his backside.

"Naughty boy, you know better," Damion scolded, "If you were that thirsty, you should have marched your little backside down the hall and I would have fed you. Now no more nonsense tonight, am I clear?"

"Yeah," Demetri sighed, feeling annoyed at having to get up so early.

Damion stood up, "A proper reply, Demetri."

"Yes, sir," he huffed. Demetri found his father ridiculous in his speech patterns. His mom talked normally like the people on tv, but his father was obsessed with using proper language. It didn't make sense to Demetri to add more words to get the same point across.

"That's better. I expect you downstairs in five minutes. If I have to come and get you for loitering, you will be one sorry little boy."

Damion made his way towards the door when he heard his son mumble angrily, "If I'm so little, why am I going?"

"Watch it, son. You're pushing my patients," Damion warned. "Five minutes." Damion left and Demitri groaned when his father was out of hearing range. He wasn't looking forward to having to kill someone and sinking his new adult fangs into flesh. Lucinda should be doing this not him. She was jealous that Demetri was being weaned first and when she tried human blood one day, she_ preferred_ it to Damion's. It wasn't fair that just because he was a little stronger, that he had to go first, but his opinion obviously didn't matter.

Demetri got himself dressed in tight black pants and a loose black shirt. The shirt's arm holes were as large as the head hole and Demetri struggled to get it on correctly. After a couple tries though, he got it on properly. He was lucky and ran into his father on his way down the steps.

"Good boy," Damion praised and ruffled his son's messy, dark brown hair, before descending down the steps again, "Come along." Demetri sighed heavily, but followed obediently. Damion was dressed in traditional vampiric clothing, complete with a black cape lined with red on the inside.

The father and son pair, exited their home in silence. Damion reminded Demetri how to transform into a bat and waited patiently for his son's transformation, before flying off into the night with him. The moon was full tonight, so it'd be dangerous to be walking around as vampires, with all the werewolves on the loose with no self-control. Damion had planned to take his son out two weeks earlier, when the moon was in a decent phase, but Demetri had gotten sick, after staying in the sun for too long. Demetri was a skilled brat at getting out of things, but his stunt this morning had only earned him a few extra minutes and there was nothing else he could do to derail his father sooner. Even if there was though, it would probably just land him in trouble.

After a half-an-hour of flying, Damion saw the fatigue growing in his son's wings and decided that they had gone far enough out for tonight. Damion helped his son to land and transform back into his humanoid form. Demetri was exhausted. He had trouble getting to sleep because he couldn't stop worrying about the hunt, he wasn't use to being awake at this time of the night/morning, and his father had flown much faster than poor Demetri was use to.

"Poppa," Demetri whined, rubbing his eyes, "I'm tired."

"This won't take long, little one," Damion assured comfortingly petting his son's shoulder, "Now crouch behind this bush, stay silent, and watch sharply. I'll be asking you questions when we're done, so don't go to sleep. This is important for you to learn. Soon you'll be catching your own prey."

"Yes, sir," Demetri yawned back as he blinked furiously trying to wake himself up. Once Demetri got behind the bush as Damion had asked, Damion made his way into the edge of the small town looking for stragglers. After ten minutes, Demetri was bored, chilled by the night air, a bit hungry, and tired. He wished his father would hurry up and pick somebody, so they could leave, but his father was a picky calculated man and wouldn't kill just anyone.

Finally, a lone man was tossed out of a nearby bar, to drunk to walk straight. Damion watch the man closely as he strayed from the street, getting closer to Damion. When the man drew near, Damion touched the side of his head and made the man walk over to him. The man's intoxicated mind gave into Damion's mental persuasion with ease and walked slowly towards Damion, keeping eye contact. No longer in control of his body, the man took one final step towards Damion, before being brought back to reality in an instant as Damion dug his fangs into the man's wrist.

Damion sucked until the man went unconscious and carried his body over to Demetri, who was now wide awake. "Suck this man dry. I'll be back soon, after I finish my own feeding."

"He smells gross," Demetri complained taking a hold of the man's wrist uneasily. He was already feeling sick.

"He tastes good though. The alcohol in his blood, should make it a little more palatable for your stubborn tastes," Damion replied looking over the bushes for potential food.

"Momma says I shouldn't drink alcohol," Demetri said trying to get out of sinking his teeth into the plump man in front of him.

Damion sighed annoyed, "I sucked most of it myself and alcohol is not as potent for us as it is for humans. Just drink it."

"But Momma-"

"Hush!" Damion warned quietly, but firmly, "You will listen to me and be quiet, or I'll cut down a nasty switch from that tree you're sitting under. What will it be, son?" Demetri whined and huffed, but slowly sunk his fangs into the man's wrist. "Good boy," Damion praised and patted the boy's head, "Stay here. I'll be back soon." Damion left and went a bit deeper into town, where Demetri couldn't see him. His feeding habits were different, when away from his children.

Once gone, Demetri started to suck on the man. It wasn't bad as the cold blood his father brought home, but he still liked his father's own blood better. He started to get full when the man had almost been completely empties. For a moment he considered stopping, but his father told him to finish him and there were too many switch options nearby to ignore, so he forced himself to finish.

Demetri was stuffed by the time he was finished and his stomach was gurgling. His stomach hated human blood. He just wanted to go home and sleep. Standing up, Demetri looked over the bush to see if his father was coming back yet, but he still saw no sign of him and sat back against a tree to wait. Outside wasn't comfortable at all, so Demetri couldn't sleep to pass the time. He leaned against the tree for as long as he could, but after twenty minutes, boredom set in. His father was a fast hunter, so Demetri had no idea what was taking him so long.

To pass the time, he wiggled a loose tooth near his right fang and licked off the blood from his face. Damion could go on a killing spree without getting a drop of blood on him, but Demetri was still a young messy eater. Demetri took the man's shirt and used it like a napkin. He thought he heard someone and looked up, but he didn't see his father or anyone else. When he looked back at the man, a flicker of reflected moonlight caught Demetri's eyes. Looking at the man's left hand. There was a small, silver wedding band on his third finger. It looked like a cheaper version of his parent's wedding bands. His heart sank.

It could have been his mom, or his dad laying in front of him, with no blood left in their body, eyes glazed over in fear, and skin gone cold to touch. Demetri shivered at the thought. He didn't understand why killing was necessary. His father had explained that if vampires went around nibbling people instead of finishing them off, they would be discovered and destroyed like the nearly extinct witch population. Still Demetri thought that there should be another way to live. He had suggested just drinking animal blood and then they wouldn't have to go into towns and cities to lure people, but Damion said that animal blood was much weaker and he'd have to spend the whole night hunting to feed the family. Damion also said that animal blood upsets vampire's stomachs. Listening to the gurgle in his own stomach, Demetri doubted that animal blood would be any worse.

After nearly an hour, Damion returned with a large bag of blood over his shoulder. "Sorry I made you wait. I ran into a little trouble with the police and had to take care of an officer. Did you finish off the drunk?"

"Yeah, he tasted a little better, I guess."

"Good," Damion nodded and staged the man with a generic suicide note and hung him from a tree branch, "Are you awake enough to fly all the way back?" Demetri shook his head no and Damion smiled, before getting on his knees. "You have done good tonight. Get on my back and I will quickly run us home." Demetri smiled and hopped on Damion's back without being asked twice. It'd been a long time since he'd last gotten a ride from his father, but he'd watched his younger siblings get rides often. Demetri hugged his father neck and fell asleep halfway home.


	3. Petulant Children

Damion was cautious on his decent home, keeping his ears tuned for werewolves, or any other fiends that might be hiding in the shadow of night. Carrying his son, instead of flying, definitely slowed him down. Damion would be happy to greet their gated home. He was thankful that his son was quick to sleep, with Demetri generally having problems falling asleep. Hearing the quiet snores in his ear, Damion couldn't help, but to smile, remembering carrying Demetri for hours at a time, when he was younger. It was also good for Damion to be reminded that his son was still just a boy, and in a little less than four years, he'd have to say goodbye to him for five years.

Damion loved the life he had been given, so in his heart, he couldn't chide his younger self for making such a deal. The fortune-teller, who he later found to be named January, wasn't a cruel woman and Damion had enjoyed working for her. He was always vague when asked about his life, before meeting Stephany, and had still yet to tell his son, or wife of the deal he had made, so many years ago. He feared what his dramatic wife and overly attached son's reaction would be. Secretly he was hoping that somehow January had forgotten, or changed her mind, but that was doubtful.

After an hour of travel, he sighed and removed Demetri from his back, before slipping them between the iron rods of the old, but sturdy gate. Knowing his child needed sleep, but also needed to do school work this morning, settled for letting Demetri rest on the couch, while he fed the other half-vampires, who Damion assumed must be starving by now. He was barely able to set his eldest on the couch, before being attacked by Lucinda.

The scent emanating from the bag of blood had woken Lucinda from a hungry slumber. Her icy eyes had shifted to red with hunger. Once she saw he target, she tackled her father from behind and struggled to take it from her father's hands. Seeing the desperation in his daughter's movements, Damion held the bag out of reach and scolded her.

"Control yourself. Your thirst does not drive you. Calm yourself and I'll let you drink." Damion had decided long ago to make sure his children didn't become rogues, vampires that were unable to suppress their thirst and urges.

Lucinda whined loudly at her father's scolding. She was very, very hungry and Poppa was being cruel. She couldn't control herself like this and it wasn't fair of him to ask her to do so. She needed that blood, all the blood! After struggling with her father for several minutes, Lucinda finally gave up.

She sniffled and let go of Damion. "_Please_, may I have some blood, Poppa. I'm_ sooooo_ thirsty."

"Yes, you may, but don't drink too much," he handed her the bag, "You're not being weaned until next year. I'm going to go check on your siblings, I'll finish feeding you when I'm done."

"Thank you, Poppa, I won't drink much," Lucinda grinned, as she punctured the top of the bag to drink from. Damion nodded, satisfied that she would obey, before climbing the spiral staircase trying in vein to keep his steps quite on the well worn steps. Although most nights he woke his wife while collecting the younger children, Damion always tried to avoid doing so. Stephany had trouble falling asleep and needed more sleep than the average person, so Damion tried his best to not to make much noise.

Entering the room cautiously, he was surprised to see his wife noticeably absent, until he saw the light cascading onto the floor from the ajar bathroom door. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he pulled the covers off the curled little bundles, hoping the sudden coolness would waken them. He sighed angrily when he saw the warm glows from their cheeks. Once again, Stephany had allowed Dominique and Cordelia to drink from her. Damion had been trying to break both mother and children of the nasty habit. Young vampires tended to bite and drink in their sleep when they got hungry. While it wasn't dangerous now, if the children were a couple years older, or if Stephany was pregnant, she could easily die from blood loss. Damion could easily turn Stephany if he got there soon enough, but becoming a vampire while ill or dying was a painful ordeal. Stephany also hadn't decided if she wanted to be turned.

Damion refused to even discuss the subject when they were dating, but after several years of marriage, he found himself unable to image himself without her. Stephany loved Damion just as much, but wasn't sure if she could live the life of a vampire. She loved the sun and soaking in its rays, she loved people and couldn't imagine harming anyone, and she loved Damion sinking his veins into her neck and sucking her blood. She was undecided and Damion respected that, but also couldn't help dropping hints that he wanted to turn her.

Damion was about to wake and scold his children, when he was swiftly cut off by a soft whimper from the bathroom. Without a single thought, he rushed in concerned only to find Stephany hunched over the sink holding her right arm to her stomach.

"What's wrong?" Damion tried to grab her arm, but Stephany quickly turned away.

"Its nothing," She insisted, but Damion wasn't buying it and forced her arm away from her body, so he could see the damage. He growled when he saw Dominique's baby fangs sticking out of his wife's arm. "Damion it's not that bad, he was just-"

"No, this is not alright. His fangs weren't that loose and they are deep in your skin," Damion forced her sit down on the edge tub and grabbed some tweezers. Stephany whimpered, "Calm down love, I will try and be quick, but this should be a good lesson for you-"

"Don't lecture me, when I'm hurt," she whined.

"I wouldn't have to if you'd just listen to me," he retorted, pulling out the first little fang.

"OWW!" Stephany shouted trying to pull her arm back, but Damion wouldn't let her. Not giving her a chance to recover, Damion pulled the other out, causing Stephany to let out another howl. Damion licked the blood off her arm and quickly covered the wound with a large bandage.

"You are so over dramatic when it comes to injuries. You do realize this is your fault-"

"Yeeees, Damion, I know I shouldn't let the kids drink from me, but you weren't here. They were so pale and they were whimpering in their sleep."

"Stop making excuses. Dominique is old enough to start controlling himself and by now you should know to stop him. I'm sick of you undermining me. Dominique is going to start sleeping in his own bed and if Cordelia doesn't break this habit, she won't sleep with us either. I will not have you getting sick. Do I make myself clear."

Stephany sighed defeated, "Yes."

"Good," Damion held her to his chest and breathed in her ear, "I'd hate to have to punish you love."

"Don't flirt with me, I'm tired and sore."

"I noticed," Damion sighed, "I'm going to deal with our naughty little children."

"Oh, don't be mean, they're just little things," Stephany huffed as she made her way back into the bedroom.

"Go back to sleep love," he said gently before focusing on the little boy and girl sitting on the edge of the bed, "Dominique, Cordelia, come along and let your mother sleep. Poppa's not happy with either of you."

Cordelia whined and tried to squirm over to her mother's embrace, but Damion quickly pulled her back and carried her out with Dominique trailing closely behind. Dominique had woken to the sound of his mother hissing in pain, but she said she was alright and told him to sleep. Stephany's shouting had woken him and he quickly noticed the two new gaps between his teeth. His stomach was in knots with guilt, he wanted to go back and apologize, but Damion told him to let Stephany sleep and follow. Dominique was well aware of how pissed his father was and didn't dare think of disobeying him.

Dominique grabbed his father's free hand and looked up pitifully, "I'm sorry Poppa. Didn' mean ta hurt Momma."

Damion sighed deeply. His son's voice was as sickeningly sweet as his mother's. He always found it harder to remain firm with his youngest, especially when he started to see his mother in them. There was nothing physical and few personality traits that would tie Dominique to Damion.

"I know you didn't mean to little one," Damion picked Dominique up, before descending down the steps, "But you knew better than to drink from your mother. I've told you over and over again. You're older and need to set a good example for your little sister."

Dominique clung onto Damion's neck, "'m sorry... Are you gonna spank me Poppa?"

"No, that obviously isn't working to cure you of the habit. I spanked you three times in the past month for drinking from your mother and you're still defying me."

Damion set both his children down and gently pushed Cordelia towards the nearest corner in the living room, "Two minutes sweetheart, you don't drink from Momma." Cordelia whined loudly, still sleepy, but immediately went to her assigned spot.

Lucinda, laying over the top of the couch to poke her sleeping twin, whined, "Poppa, will you feed me now?"

"In a few moments, I have to deal with your little brother first. Watch your sister for me and tell me if she leaves before her two minutes are up," Damion replied. "And leave your brother alone, let him get some more sleep."

"Yes, Poppa." Lucinda rolled off the edge and sat on the floor, waiting patiently.

Damion took Dominique's hand and led him to the bathroom. "Poppa?" Dominique asked confused.

Damion set Dominique on the counter, before answering and digging through a nearby drawer, "You're getting your mouth washed out."

Dominique covered his mouth and shook his head. He'd never had his mouth washed out, but he'd heard the horror story from Demetri of when he got his mouth washed out for being sassing with Momma and cursing. Demetri had told him how awful it had tasted and Dominique definitely didn't want to confirm it first hand.

Damion chose to ignore his child for a moment, while he ran the bar under the facet. He wouldn't have to keep it under for long, vampires had heightened senses, including taste. He didn't need tons of suds to get his point across like what would be needed for a purely human child.

"Open up, Dominique." The little boy just shook his pitiful head in response, keeping his hands firmly over his mouth. "Dominique, you can open your mouth like a good boy, or I can spank you and then you will get your mouth washed out."

Dominique cried in response. He didn't want his mouth washed out at all. A spanking would be better than this. Damion groaned. Yet another trait Dominique had inherited: an over dramatic attitude. Though, Damion had more patients dealing with his children's antics.

"Calm down Dominique. It'll be over in a minute. Be a big boy for Poppa and open up. I don't want to punish you anymore, but I will if I have to." Damion stroked his hair gently to help his son calm down.

Dominique calmed after a couple moments and hesitantly removed his hand. "Id'll be quick?"

"Yes, Poppa promises," Damion couldn't help but to smile in relief when his little boy opened his mouth, still sniffling. He didn't enjoy punishing his children anymore than he needed to and Dominique often needed encouragement to behave. True to his word, Damion made the mouth soaping as brief as possible. Damion was honestly just happy Dominique submitted to his punishment. Once finished, Damion filled a cup up with water and handed it over to the sniffling little boy.

Dominique took the cup gratefully and rinsed his mouth out several times by refilling the cup. Somehow the soap tasted even _worse _than he had imagined. He definitely wouldn't be snacking on his mother any time soon no matter how hungry he got.

Once he was sure Dominique had rinsed enough, Damion took his child into his arms and gave him a good cuddle. "Such a brave little boy I have. Thank you for being good for Poppa. Please don't make me repeat this lesson." Dominique nuzzled his head into the crook of Damion's neck and continued his sniffling.

"Good boy," Damion praised, rubbing his back gently and carrying him back into the living room. Once crossing the threshold, he found himself annoyed, though not surprised, to see his oldest rough housing with each other with the youngest standing on the couch cheering them on.

Knowing they were too invested in their game to hear any warning he could give, he set Dominique down, before pulling the twins apart by their arms and scolding them firmly, "That's enough! No, wrestling in the house. You'll break something."

"Nu-uh!" Both complained as they struggled to get free and return to their game.

"Stop!" Damion reprimanded and landed two sharp swats on each of their bottoms. Demetri growled and yanked his arm away about to storm off, while his complacent sister settled for sulking in her father's grip.

"Demetri," Damion hissed.

"What?!" He shouted back with a stomp of his foot, ready to climb the staircase to go and pout.

"That's quite enough little boy, get back over here, I won't have you waking your mother. Get back over here... now."

Demetri crossed his arms and glared darkly at Damion, refusing to move. His Poppa had dragged him out of the house as soon as he woke up, made him suck a man dry, and then when Demetri finally got to relax and have fun with his siblings, he made him stop and swatted him. It wasn't fair at all. He considered waking up Stephany just to spite Damion.

"Lucy, be a good girl and take your siblings to the ballroom, I'll be there in a few minutes to feed you," Damion said softly, before suddenly turning cold. He had seen enough defiance for a week from is children and it would stop now. Damion strode over to Demetri and pulled him by his ear up to his third floor study.

"Ow! Stop it! I hate- Owww!"

Damion gave his ear a harsh tug, "Finish that sentence and you'll be tasting the cane tonight. We don't say that to each other ever. Especially over something so trivial. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yeeeeees!"

"Yes, what?"

"Yeees, siiir!" he cried as his father gave his ear another tug.

Damion pulled the nine-year-old into his study and closed the door, before releasing his ear. Demetri sniffled and rubbed his ear trying to force himself to stop crying. He was angry, sad, and just upset in general and Damion yanking his ear wasn't helping.

Damion grabbed a ruler from his drawer and sat it on his desk, before sitting down. "Demetri come here." Demetri already feeling much more obedient strode over to his father. "Why are you going to get a spanking?"

"Because I yelled at you..."

"And?"

"I stomped my foot and was rude..."

"And?" Damion prompted.

"...," Demetri sniffled about ready to cry again, "I don't know..."

Not wanted to draw things out with Lucinda waiting to be feed, Damion filled in the list of transgressions for him, "You're in trouble for throwing a tantrum, for having an attitude, not stopping when I asked you to, and for your behavior before we went hunting. You do not make yourself sick, you do not yell at me, you do not disobey me, and you do not stomp at me ever. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Poppa..."

Damion took his eldest son over his knee and began spanking him right away. Despite his constant threats, Damion was not an overly harsh parent. He knew his children's limits and didn't push them in the least. Being a careful spanker, he paid close attention to his son's body language to make sure that he wasn't being really hurt and that he truly felt remorseful. The second his son's small body went limp, Damion pulled down Demetri's pants and gave him several even swats of the ruler with Demetri crying out at each strike.

"Poooooooppa!" He cried out after a particularly hard swat.

"Almost done," Damion gently said, pinning his son's hands for the last three swats. His task completed, Damion set the ruler aside and held his son on his lap, making sure his bottom was between his knees.

Demetri cried into his father's chest and clung to him, feeling much younger than he had a few moments ago. It had been a while since he'd gotten the ruler and he'd forgotten how much it stung and suddenly very grateful that he hadn't been introduced to the cane yet.

"I- I'm... Sorry, Poppa," Demetri sobbed, barely coherent through his sniffles.

Damion stroked his son's back gently, "I know little monster. Just calm down." Demetri only clung tighter and cried harder in response. When not being petulant, Demetri was a true daddy's boy and found comfort being in his father's arms. He also hated knowing he'd upset his father. He felt sick.

Able to read his child well, Damion held his son tighter and pet his messy hair. "Shh...Calm down, Demetri. You're alright. Your punishment is over and all is forgiven. Stop working yourself up like this. Poppa's not mad at you," Damion assured.

Demetri from a young age was insecure with himself. He was constantly questioning himself and his actions. It made his moods and feelings unpredictable even to himself, because he was still testing the waters to find out who he was. He needed assurance and permission to be comfortable and sane. And with Damion's words slowly, but surely, Demetri was able to calm down and wipe his tears away.

Satisfied his son was calm, Damion stood him upright and readjusted his clothes. "Are you all right now?" At a small nod, Damion smiled and patted his shoulder, "That's my boy. Let's go downstairs, once I feed your sister, you'll only have an hour left with me before bed."

"Yes, Poppa... Sorry for being difficult."

Damion held his son close to his side as he walked down the hall, "No more apologies little boy. You're forgiven, there's no need to worry about it any longer."

Demetri gave Damion a final tight hug, "I love you Poppa."

"Poppa loves you too, my sweet boy," Damion replied, bending down, to give him a peck on the forehead, "Now, hurry up. I still have to quiz you about the hunt from tonight."

"Yes, Poppa."


End file.
